By JIEUN HONG
Reporter
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — The UCM Office of Mentoring, Advocacy and Peer Support has been hosting town hall meetings for minority groups on campus once a week since Jan. 20.

The last town hall meeting was geared toward UCM undergraduate international students. Participants gathered in the Elliott Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 10, to talk about their experiences and address the problems they face as international students on campus.

“We were basically here this evening to discuss the issues that the international students have over here, not only the issues, but also, we suggested some solutions to the representatives,” said Sidra Muntaha, a senior exchange student from Pakistan studying electrical engineering. “They are really keen toward the problem as well as the solutions, and they are encouraging and discussing a lot of things, and it is a platform from where new ideas can be generated.”

Some of the problems international students brought up during the meeting included the lack of Asian food options in the dining halls and concerns about accommodations for international students in the residence halls.

Swathi Chembath, a graduate student from India who is studying college student personnel administration and works as a mentor in the MAPS office, helped facilitate the discussion.

Chembath said she’s already heard about food and accommodation problems for international students, but she thought of another issue: commuting to and from campus.

“For international students, especially the exchange students, commuting on campus is very difficult because nobody would buy a car for one semester,” she said.

Chembath said they achieved what they wanted to do from this town hall meeting.

“We basically wanted to know what problems international students face on campus,” she said. “It was nice to know that they feel pretty accepted on campus and also in Warrensburg.”

Anam Munir, a senior exchange student from Pakistan studying business administration, was surprised at the wide variety of international communities at UCM and the attitude of moderators who were leading the meeting.

“Most of the students from Asia… are not very well known in U.S., so there are many diverse students,” Munir said. “What surprised me the most was the moderator who was moderating our discussion. She was taking all the negative comments of ours so patiently; I was very surprised for that.”

Marium Raheed, a senior exchange student from Pakistan studying electric engineering, said the rest of the UCM student body should care about the international community on campus.

“The world right now, more than any other time, needs a lot more social leaders, not just leaders,” she said. “So, we’ve made an attempt to come here (and) become a social leader house, because we are actually trying to be global citizens. We hope that you would welcome more of us here with open arms just for the sake of humanity and to give the world more social and well equipped leaders in the future.”

Raheed said the town hall meeting made her feel more involved in the UCM community.

Although international students still have issues to resolve with adjusting to campus life at UCM, participants were assured that the representation of the international community at UCM would be better than before.

“I would hope that 10 years from now, the UCM community and Warrensburg community would have accepted diversity and the beauty of cultures a lot more,” Raheed said. “That can only be possible if you broaden your thinking and mind slightly more than it is now.”

Muntaha said the food problem in the dining halls on campus will be solved in the future.

“I guess after some time, things will get better and the dining halls will have some really good Asian and Indian food,” she said. “Plus, the students will be able to adjust with the climate over here. Things will get better.”

For more information on the four-week series of town hall meetings, contact Tara Napoleone-Clifford, IDEAS coordinator of the MAPS office, at [email protected].